I Remember
“It seems we don't have much time left. So let me tell you a little story before we go to sleep for the final time,” Twilight said quietly, her tone fading a bit.
“Alright Granny Twi,” a little filly, named Bright Sparkle replied in a low, sad voice. Bright Sparkle lowered her head on to Granny Twilight's lap, both Grandfilly and Grandmare now sitting on the couch in Granny Twilight's library.
“Would you believe time flies little one? Well in the event that it does today, I'll keep the story short and sweet so you can hear the ending, I imagine it'll bring tears to your eyes,” said Granny Twilight. She lowered her head just on top of Bright Sparkle's head, a small tear falling down her old wrinkly face, she started to remember the sweet memories she still held, before the end of the other fives' lives.
“Now where to begin?” Twilight's voice trailing off, her mind slowly ebbing into her past memories.
“Granny? You're lost in thought again,” replied the little filly, tilting her head with a curious look to her face.
“Ah yes, I know, how about we start with the story after my brother Shining Armor and my old foal sitter Princess Cadence got married? I believe I told you everything prior to that,” mused Granny Twilight as she wandered off into deep thought again.
Bright clapped her hooves together as if to wake Granny Twilight up. It worked for the most part. She still seemed distracted by something though.
“Well everything went back to normal after the wedding, Queen Chrysalis was not heard from again. I believe I heard her yell We're blasting off again! before she disappeared into the sunset. Now like I said, everything went back to normal, I studied my books on quantum mechanics and the synopsis of the multiverse. Granted some of those books were just a bunch of hooey, Princess Celestia thought that other dimensions existed. Unfortunately they didn't, it seems our world is a one-track place. 30 years later, nothing much story wise except for a few small details. I had fallen in love with a stallion named Thunder Dash, your Grandstallion. Yes he was not as book smart, but love can be a tricky thing. No amount of books could ever tell me how love worked, no matter how hard I tried to research it.” Granny Twilight smiled, and ran a hoof through Bright's mane.
“I miss Grandstallion; every time we visited he always had a trick up his coat to surprise me. Like that whole 'bit behind the ears thing.' How did he do that?” Inquired the young filly.
“A magician must never reveal his or her secrets Bright. Even in death, and those they love.” A smile crept across Granny Twilight's face, in admiration that even in death, Thunder's magic will not be revealed.
“Alright then, where were we?” Granny Twilight forgets most things these days, so remembering where the story left off is one of those things.
“You were researching love?” The filly replied confused.
“Oh that's right. My number one assistant Spike had brought me every book we had about love, but not one book could tell me a straight answer, some had read love is something that develops over time, or, love can happen in an instant (love at first sight). Some even went on to say that love can only be defined by the kindness and compassion one shares to other people. Not any one pony in particular. Well by that time your Grandstallion and I decided it was time to start a family. Of course, only after we got married.”
“You got married?!” The young filly, jumping up with excitement.
Granny Twilight just laughed at the enthusiasm flowing just from one little filly.
“Yes Bright, we did. And it was a grand event, being a student directly under Princess Celestia is a very high honor, and being the sister of the Captain of the Royal Guard, and the sister-in-law of Princess Cadence can only mean that we're practically royalty. So you try telling that in class and you'll see everypony's jaw drop. Especially when our daughter (your mom) brought us into Family Appreciation Day, and we told them of our lineage, and who we were.”
“Really? Who was Grandstallion's family?” Interrupting the story, the young filly, seemed like she knew, but not quite did.
“Honey, Thunder... DASH. One of my friends was Rainbow Dash.” Granny Twilight was having fun at that, and said it very sarcastically.
“Wai-wha-ha-huh? You married Rainbow Dash's BROTHER? The very brother who was co-captain of The Wonderbolts? The very same flier who was deemed the fastest in Equestria before the famous Rainbow Dash joined The Wonderbolts and became their captain 10 years later?” The filly was now ecstatic and jumping for joy.
At least in our last moments together I can see her giddy and full of laughter. But the story only get's worse. Eventually. Granny Twilight thought to herself.
The library was getting brighter and brighter, very slowly, near the mid-day, it seemed like a normal afternoon, but what awaited them could only spell disaster for their world. Bright Sparkle's mother and father were there with them, listening to the story Granny Twilight had told them once before, a smile coming to each their faces as they saw their daughter bouncing around the room with excitement. But they knew what was coming, their faces showed it. The eyes concealed a darkness to protect their young filly, however they let Granny Twilight talk on, because they knew, at least before they were obliterated, it was worth hearing the full story one last time.
“Anyway young filly, settle down. Allow me to finish the story. I swear most ponies in this town are crazy!” Said Granny Twilight all giddy herself. But she took some time and calmed down to bring the mood to a warmer state.
“Well after the wedding, one year later we had conceived your mother. She was as beautiful as the sun that day, and we couldn't help but adore her from day one. Your mother Shining Dash. The first day we held her in our arms, she grabbed my hoof with all her might. It was one of the happiest moments of our lives. We watched her grow up to be as quick as Rainbow Dash was when she was Shining's age, and as intelligent as I was, always into books. Books of flying tricks of course, and who wrote it none other than Rainbow Dash.”
The young filly gasped as she had never heard her favorite hero was a reader. She always thought Rainbow Dash was too cool for books. She was wrong of course. That collection of Daring Do books Rainbow had, had proved Rainbow loved books, and of course Shining knew that. Bright was a Pegasus, smart as she was, she could fly really fast, purple coat like Twilight's and a bluish, tealish whiteish, mane, kind of like Colgate's.
Shining was not that much different, she had a pure purple mane, and a teal coat. Thunder Dash was teal with a red mane bordering along a teal strip, so the resemblance to the two was uncanny.
“Now then, moving along. Shining grew up to be successful as a student of Princess Celestia as I once did, difference being, she had friends in Canterlot. A few decades later, old age got the better of us, first it was Fluttershy, she fell gravely ill, her weak body couldn't handle getting sick to begin with, there was a few cures to the illness she had gotten, however her body couldn't handle western medicine. That was 4 years ago, even in Fluttershy's last moment she didn't want anypony worrying about her, she was quirky that way. Her final request was to lay down with her stallion Big Mac under the tree she had met him under for the first time. To pass on peacefully in Big Mac's hooves. Not sure what happened before she passed, she was alone with him. Big Mac had shut himself inside, and would regularly visit her grave, each day, with one new daisy... her favorite. And each day he would sit there for an hour at least and talk to her. Her grave read: Element of Kindness, loving and gentle wife”
The young filly was now in tears, recalling her Grandmare Fluttershy. She was like family to her, as the other 5 had been. Shining and her husband also had tears flowing down their cheeks, but Twilight stood there with no tears, for they had been bled out over time as the other 5 had passed, and Twilight's husband as well. No more tears had existed in Twilight's body, too much had happened too fast for there to be more. Especially now that the end of days was coming; a day she thought she'd never see.
“Next to move on was Pinkie Pie. She didn't want to have a family, because instead, the whole town was her family. She spread joy wherever she went, parties all the time. Those were fun days, sometimes she'd go overboard though. This one meanie mule named Cranky came into town one day, and she almost drove him to insanity because she would not let go that he just wanted some peace and quiet. However, Cranky was looking for someone, so Pinkie despite being turned down as a friend went through tooth and hoof to find this said person. They finally found each other, and Cranky became eternally indebted to Pinkie. As you can imagine she wanted to celebrate. But old age got the better of her too, however she still tried doing the same things she always did, but it didn't always work out.”
“What happened?” Asked a shakily young filly.
“Well, one day, while throwing a big party as usual, she had to climb a ladder to reach the top of the barn at Sweet Apple Acres. It was pretty high up, she had trouble getting up there, and she decided to keep it a secret from everyone else to surprise all of us. Sadly, the ladder was too flimsy and too high up for someone of Pinkie's build. And so...” A slight pause in Granny Twilight's voice. You can tell she would've shed a few tears had she been able to. Even her voice gave way at the thought.
“And so... Pinkie fell off the ladder, right onto her back. The floor in the barn was wood so it wasn't like she could have survived had it been carpet either. When she hit the floor, the doctors guessed that she was lying there on her back not able to move for about 10 minutes before finally letting go and moving on... She couldn't even throw one last party. Ironic how her death was from the very same thing she loved so much...” Granny Twilight let out a small wail, as she had been holding back her feelings for so long. Even after have not been able to shed a tear for 2 years, Granny Twilight shed a tear for her lost friends.
“Mom, you don't have to tell her this if it pains you that much,” Shining was speaking up, tears rolling down her cheeks.
“But I have to Shining, I owe it to them for their legends to be passed on,” replied Granny in a soft voice. “I have to...”
“Please, go on,” Bright Sparkle said with a faint, and pleading voice, almost whispering as she too was crying.
“Alright. Next was Applejack, her and Rainbow were a couple, they had grown old and of course old age got them too. Applejack and Rainbow had adopted a foal of their own, which was your best friend Starfire. Starfire had grown up to be an amazing unicorn, adept at magic that was happy. She had told me once that to use her magic all she had to do was think happy thoughts, and it would make it more powerful. She grew up to be a farmer like Applejack had hoped, however that wasn't what her Cutie Mark was about, it was about magic, happy magic. So as appropriate her Cutie Mark showed a small fire with stars dotted around it. She still maintained Sweet Apple Acres and had the help of her parents to do it. Each year the Zap Apple jam got better and better. Until Starfire's mother Applejack had left this world.”
“And... AND?!” Anxious as the filly is, she was distracted from the inevitable, and that was all Twilight had wanted.
“Slow down there speedy. I'm getting there, old age is getting to me too.”
“I know, I know. It's just cool learning about my Grandparents,” replied the excited filly. Her eyes glowed with curiosity and wonderment.
“Well, Applejack's death was more subtle, she was lying in bed and she knew her time had come. Seeing as Applejack was just but an earth pony they decided to live at Sweet Apple Acres, Rainbow Dash too lived with her, moving out of her cloud home. A small sacrifice she admitted, but nothing she couldn't do for her love. So as Applejack lied there in bed she had gotten Rainbow to lean in closer and closer for one last kiss. That was all Applejack had asked for, silently like they had used telepathy. One final kiss goodbye. Rainbow was torn after that, and couldn't take it, she too had locked herself in her room, grieving over her loss. The last of us tried to get her to come outside the room, but to no avail. One day she decided to live on for Applejack, not letting death stop her from being happy.”
“Wow... Rainbow Dash grief stricken?” Bright's heart was now pounding, sorrow and sadness filled her. Rainbow was her hero, so it's natural she should feel sad for her.
“Well yeah, she was grief stricken, however because her heart couldn't take the stress of being alone, Rainbow Dash was the next to leave our world.”
A big gasp came from the small fillies mouth, exasperated and horrified, never having thought about how her hero died. She was finally going to find out. So she sat there waiting patiently for the answer to spill forth from Granny Twilight's mouth.
"As you know Rainbow Dash was heartbroken now that her lover was gone. She almost couldn't bear it, everyday she would visit Applejack's grave which read: Element of Honesty, the greatest applebucker in the land, and a darn'd good lover. Rainbow Dash never did anything else, she slowly stopped eating, never being hungry, sleep deprivation and constant crying also befell her. She'd only leave the house to visit Applejack's gravestone, she would just sit there immobile for hours on end, no pony paid much attention to a grieving widow. One afternoon when she was alone, she had went to the gravestone. After crying, trying her best to cope with her emotional pain, she had decided to lay down and go to sleep... a sleep she never awoke from.”
“B-b-but, why-y-y!?” It was evident Bright was now in full tears, crying her heart out at her fallen hero.
“It seems that hurt the most huh? Please, listen to the last two I am about to tell you, they were the hardest of the bunch to get together, even though we knew they like each other.” Granny Twilight mused at the thought and was lost in deep recesses of her mind again.
“Ahem.... Uh, Mom?” Shining blurted out, snapping Twilight's attention back into her story.
“Oh yeah! Sorry, lost my mind a while back,” she rebutted snickering.
“The last of the 5 pony friends to go was Rarity. Rarity being the drama queen of the century had to have the grandest death of all. To go out with a bang, she said. Spike and Rarity always had a thing for each other, but when Spike had kindly given her a beautiful ruby gem, it had sealed the deal. As time went on nothing much of it came forth, until Hearts and Hooves day, the 5 of us outside of Rarity of course convinced Spike to ask Rarity to be his special somepony. Fortunately, by this time Spike had grown a little older and more mature. He did look pretty handsome. He was about her height, pretty muscular, although he was a dragon. His green scales slicked back perfectly into almost soft like blades, it made him look elegant. Well on that day, we had set up a romantic picnic under the canopy, Rarity when she got there immediately knew it was for him and her, and guessed what was about to happen, but she acted like she didn't for Spike's pride for planning the whole thing. After a lovely time they had together Spike finally had asked Rarity. And she had said “YES!” Granny Twilight cheered happily at that last part, particularly because it was Spike.
“What else happened Granny Twi?” Bright Sparkle inquired with that same curious look from earlier.
“Well, same 'ole story for many a folk, Rarity got married to Spike, who had grown to be about 10 feet in size, and grew his wings! She loved flying especially with Spike holding her. As you can imagine they wanted to start a family, however a dragon and mare can't exactly conceive. So they adopted as well, I believe it was... oh what was her name again?” Granny Twilight still pondering the thought as Shining had spoken up.
“Her name was Starry Diamond, Mom.”
“Oh yes that's right, silly me for forgetting someone so important. Thank you dear. Now then they had adopted Starry Diamond, who was growing up to be a fine gem of a mare. However, when they adopted, they didn't allow the nurse to fully explain all the problems Starry Diamond had, one in particular was fatal. So not even 5 years after adoption, Starry had been sent to the hospital after collapsing at Sugarcube Corner, it seems she had a heart problem that the couple hadn't known about. At the hospital, Starry didn't make it. Rarity not being able to handle it, confided in Spike. But like all stallions, or dragon in his case. He had work as one of the Royal Guard in Canterlot, so he was out of town for the evening. Rarity had gotten ill, it seemed as though her heart was growing weaker and weaker. None could describe the kind of heart problem it was, but they deduced it was because of the loss of her child that her heart couldn't take it. Spike had just returned home to an empty house, it seems no one was home. Spike got worried, he knew about Rarity's getting old problem. So he panicked and flew to the hospital, he got to the front desk and asked if his wife Rarity had been admitted here recently, the nurse looked at him wide-eyed and scared at what might happen if she herself broke the news. So instead she called on one of the other braver doctors to do it. Spike took the news hard, he flew to a nearby mountain and you could hear his wailing and destroying of trees from across Equestria. I finally found where he was and he was curled up crying like he would when he was younger and he was hurt, although this time, it was worse.”
“Wow... did he ever get over it?” Asked Bright Sparkle.
“Well yeah, being someone who can live forever, you eventually get over it. He still misses her and works as a Canterlot Royal Guard now, friends with the Princesses of course, what with their being immortal too. Rarity died on the hospital bed, and she never got to die with him alone. Spike knowing his mare better than anypony else, took her into his hands ever so gently, and had brought her home and put her on their bed. For one last night he thought, they could sleep together. Spike took then to pledge his time to the Royal Guard to help him get over his pain, to move on as Rarity would've liked him to do.” Granny Twilight paused for a moment as she thought of the last of her friends/family, that she had left to say.
That's about it, your Grandstallion had passed away when you were old enough to understand what was going on around you, so you know how it happened. Like any other death, he simply passed on in his sleep, little did I know it would be the last night. He seemed fine the day before. I still miss him, but that's one thing I won't worry about anymore.” Granny Twilight's voice was becoming coarse and rough after talking so long.
“It seems an hour has passed, and we only have a few more minutes before the moon engulfs the earth,” said Shining.
“Then let it come, there's no other death I'd like to have, then to be with my family for one last gathering.” Granny Twilight gathered the 3 of them in for a hug, tears flowing down all their faces, Twilight having those last few moments, she had seen her life flash before her eyes like a movie. She shed another tear, not out of sadness that she could no longer be with her family, but that she was going to die with them, and be able to see her friends and family that left her behind again.
Just in the last few moments before the moon finally hit Equestria, it was amazingly silent, not a single stir, except for the falling rocks and meteors from the moon falling down. It seems Discord, Celestia and even Luna have failed to stop it. Figures, that we'd be undone by one of the things that gave us life.
Twilight had just remembered something her friend Fluttershy would sing all the time to her family.
“It seems fitting that I sing a song, for our final moment together. If you'll all listen now, I shall begin,” said Twilight in a hushed tone. Each of the ponies there closed their eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep, peacefully.
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to go to bed.
Drifting off to sleep
Exciting day behind you
Drifting off to sleep
Let the joy of dreamland find you
Hush now, quiet now
It's time to lay your slee-